Tuesday, 3 July 2007

That's my money in that their boat

Spokesmen from the yachting industry were boasting over the weekend that after the America's Cup disaster that was Team NZ's effort in 2003, the $34 million put into this latest effort by the government (ie., you and me and Mr Muliaga) is money well spent in rehabilitating and promoting NZ's high-tech boatbuilding industry, they said.They're wrong. Whatever the successes on the water this time - and make no mistake, what Dalton and Co have achieved is fantastic - that's my money these boat builders are calling an "investment." If boat builders want to promote their industry, then let them promote it with their own goddamn money!

If Peter thinks he's "got his money's worth" from the America's Cup, that's great. But Peter doesn't speak for me. Although he would presume to do so, which I find incredibly arrogant, not to mention immoral.

My point is simple. Peter should be able to keep all the money he earns and then spend it as he sees fit. He can give ALL his money to Team NZ if he wants to. I wouldn't presume to stop him. He earned it, not me. I'll do what I want to do and then we're both happy. Nobody's forcing anybody to do anything.

As I always say, the moment the state gets involved, the whole damn thing becomes politicised, with all the crap that entails. And then we're all forced to put up with pictures of Clark or Key or whoever's Chief Parasite, beaming next to the boat.

7 comments:

In the end the whole effort was tainted with stolen money. For that reason they will loose everything one way or another. It's kinder for all if they lose now rather than win the cup and bring it home to be projected as a symbol of the successes of glorious national socialism. The cup does not belong in a collectivist outfit such as NZ. You people do not deserve it. No way.

So, Hitman, does your logic follow for the Rugby World Cup as well, given that plenty of public money goes in to the All Blacks?

And by the same token, which team deserves to win the World Cup by your 'public money' rationale? Or maybe the team most fit to win should be decided by the national political situation of the team in question...

You ask, "Does your logic follow for the Rugby World Cup as well, given that plenty of public money goes in to the All Blacks?"

Yes. Tainted by receiving it be.

Which tean deserves to win? Does it matter? It's all about as relevant as Paris Hilton's undies. Actually, the adventures of Paris are superior. At least she isn't held up as a nationalist icon to the glorious successes of socialised sport like the whole unholy scrum of bladder ball. yuck!

The contribution of public money to Team NZ is pretty close to cheating, in my view. America's Cup is not only about the best yachting, it is about the ability of an organisation to raise money and manage sponsors. A good deal of that is short circuited when public money is donated with few strings attached. At the very least, it taints the whole enterprise.

That said, Team NZ has done wonderful things with that money, good on them.

I'm just keen to explore the public money angle a bit more, Hitter. Given that you'll be hard-pressed to find a union competing in the Rugby World Cup that doesn't accept some level of public funding, how can you single out the AB's? I mean, France is channelling vast wads of public cash into hosting it!

I'm not the one who singled out the ABs. I answered the question you directed to me.

Having said that, note that the French Rugby Union establishment continue to profit from crimes committed during WW2. Most of the better grounds and assets they presently control were stolen from the French Rugby League during the Nazi German occupation the reign of the Vichy reigme in the South of France.

The League administration and top players were systematically handed over to the Germans for elimination (by French officials and bureaucrats who just happened to be involved with the operation of the French Rugby Union). League was banned for the duration and the league grounds were confiscated. Those members of the French Rugby League who escaped the first wave of imprisonments joined the resistance where most of them were killed, many betrayed by Rugby Union officials and administrators.

So, in the end they're about as bad a pack of thieves and tainted mongrels as can be. Why associate with such? Tainted...

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